Dubai telecom firm du posted its first profit ever in the third quarter, a year ahead of plan, due to growth in subscription numbers, sending its shares up as much as 6 percent on Sunday. Telecom firms in the world's top oil-exporting region have been expanding their operations at home and abroad as the economy grows and the population expands.
Du's net income in the three months ended September 30 was 31.47 million dirhams ($8.57 million) compared with a loss of 241.94 million dirhams a year ago, du said in a statement.
Shares were up 3.4 percent at 0643 GMT after soaring 6 percent early on, outperforming Dubai's benchmark, which was up 27 percent. Du's revenue more than doubled to 1.06 billion dirhams in the three months to September 30, the firm said.
Du, which started operations in February 2007, added 453,000 mobile telephone subscriptions, taking its total to 2.67 million, while fixed-line subscriptions grew by 30,000 to 248,000 in the same period, it said. Prime Group had forecast that du would report a net loss of 44.0 million dirhams in the third quarter.